Current time in United Kingdom
The current local time across United Kingdom is shown below. The country observes GMT in winter and BST during daylight saving time.
What's the daylight saving status?
When are sunrise & sunset today in London?
What are the timezone facts?
- Timezone
- Europe/London
- Standard abbreviation
- GMT
- DST abbreviation
- BST
- Observes daylight saving
- Yes
- Country code
- GB
What are the major cities in United Kingdom?
How does United Kingdom handle time?
The Royal Observatory at Greenwich has anchored Coordinated Universal Time since the 1884 International Meridian Conference. The country observes Greenwich Mean Time in winter and British Summer Time from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October, the same schedule applied across the European Union. The single zone covers the whole UK, though the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies use their own offsets. The 1968–1971 British Standard Time experiment kept the UK on BST year-round before being abandoned.
What are the working hours in United Kingdom?
The standard UK working day runs roughly 09:00 to 17:30 across most sectors, though the City of London's financial industry begins earlier to overlap with continental markets, and creative and technology workers in cities like Manchester and Bristol skew later. Lunch is typically short, often eaten at the desk. Public holidays cluster around Christmas (25–26 December), New Year, Easter (variable dates), early May and late August Bank Holidays. Scotland adds 2 January and Saint Andrew's Day, while Northern Ireland observes 12 July.
Where is United Kingdom?
The United Kingdom is an island nation in north-western Europe comprising England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with a combined population of around 68 million. The mainland of Great Britain extends roughly 1,000 kilometres north to south, with the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man as Crown Dependencies on a separate footing. The country sits between latitudes 50 and 60 degrees north, producing pronounced seasonal day-length variation despite its modest east-to-west span. London anchors the political and commercial centre.